Could the U.N. Help D.C. Win a Vote in Congress?

Others present for the conversation suggested that the District might be able to learn some lessons from the fight to expand marriage rights to same-sex couples. Both Bauer and Davis agreed that gay rights had a broader reach than D.C. voting rights, which would affect only the District’s 630,000 residents.

Still, Davis believes there are compelling arguments that could help put a face on the movement and attract more media attention.

District residents fight and die in every war, D.C. citizens are drafted, and people here “pay income taxes like everybody else,” he pointed out.

“The facts are clear,” he said. Now, the fight “needs to be hit from multiple areas.”